1- I love khukuris! But I've found that the Nepali examples I've used in the past have had limitations and issues. This pattern is intended to address some of them, but I also felt it was important to acknowledge some of the traditional design features and understand why they are the way they are. And then to give a nod to the ones which don't necessarily fulfill a useful role.

My goal with this pattern was to design an ideal khukuri for my uses, (blazing and building trails) and to come up with something whose lines are as refined as I could come up with. I've studied a lot of contemporary khukuris and almost always find something jarring and not quite right to my eye, or designed for a use that isn't of interest to me, (weapon oriented design features).

This khukuri is a prototype which I paid Salem to make for me. I'm hoping that one day it will be produced commercially, but otherwise, Salem has free reign to produce this for other customers.

One note; I didn't copy anything or take tracings. My experience with various different khuks informed me, and I leaned on that experience when I approached that blank sheet of paper. When I design new patterns, I intentionally ensure that while I'm working on them I don't physically observe anything similar to what I'm working on. I want the lines to flow from my own mind onto the paper without first being filtered by a similar object, if that makes any sense.

2- I think Salem is going to use this pattern to build a stick tang version. Salem's work here is about as true to my design as he could get, which is to say almost exact.

Actually, a close look at the two patterns drawn on that aluminum sheet will reveal some differences- the stick tang one was already on there, a pattern from a kukri that I'd built a couple months earlier. It had a bit less drop and a bit less belly- more of a fighting kuk than strictly chopping.

Actually, a close look at the two patterns drawn on that aluminum sheet will reveal some differences- the stick tang one was already on there, a pattern from a kukri that I'd built a couple months earlier. It had a bit less drop and a bit less belly- more of a fighting kuk than strictly chopping.